1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to strings of lights used for the purpose of decoration, signage, or architectural accents, with lights that change color and brightness.
2. Prior Art
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
Patent/Pub. #Kind CodeIssue DateInventor2005/0269580A12005D'Angelo6,608,453B22003Morgan, et al.7,257,551B22007Oskorep et al.7,550,935B22009Lys et al.7,471,048B22008Peng7,576,497B22009Peng7,161,313B22007Piepgras et al.
Using LEDs (light emitting diodes) for lighting displays, such as holiday lighting, decorative displays, signage, or architectural accents, has become common. By combining primary colored LED lights of red, green and blue, most any common color is easily generated by these lights. Individually controlling the power to each light, as done in U.S. Pat. No. 7,257,551 Oskorep et al. (2007) requires a substantial amount of wiring, which becomes cumbersome with significant numbers of lights. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,471,048 (2008) and 7,576,497 (2009) due to Peng, provide a method of synchronizing the lights, but no straightforward way to individually program them, thus limiting the types of displays available.
Other systems such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,550,935 (2009) by Lys et al. require specialized or custom controllers be present to maintain the pattern or animation. The system here uses standard, inexpensive microcontrollers to maintain the display.